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Shared Spaces & Services: Smart & Sustainable

How can your nonprofit benefit from sharing spaces and services? To start:

Maximize impact with more efficient operations (i.e., save time, money, and effort)

Work with and/or bounce ideas off of your nonprofit "roommates"

Attract potential funders, who like to see collaboration among nonprofits

Get info on trends, upsides and downsides, strategies, and resources, from a leading expert on the subject and a director who leads a shared space for ten nonprofits. Key points:

86% of organizations housed in nonprofit centers experience significant improvements in their overall effectiveness and efficiency, according to 2011 study

Plan for at least one full-time staffer just for running the collaboration, for best results

Donors will sometimes give more to joint fundraising efforts between several agencies with similar missions because they appreciate the focus on efficiency and collaboration

Teaming up staff with similar roles (e.g., office managers, case workers, fundraisers) promotes collaboration and exchange at all levels, which leads to increased staff morale and retention, professional development, and career advancement

Find Us

China Brotsky co-founded and directs The NonprofitCenters Network. She lectures and consults internationally on the creation and operation of green nonprofit facilities and the development of shared services programs. Read more...

Peggy Eagan is the executive director of the Children and Family Services Center in Charlotte, NC, a 100,000 square foot facility that houses 10 nonprofits that serve children and families in the Charlotte area. In this facility, collaboration occurs in the areas of space sharing, technology, shared back office services, and programming.